Blockhead-Hans

Andrew Lang (1844 – 1912) was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him. Lang was also a prolific author of works both fiction and non.

Blockhead Hans is a literary fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, and it is included in Andrew Lang's The Yellow Fairy Book.  An old squire had three sons. Two of them were smart and wanted to conquer a princess’s heart, who admired silvertongued men the most. His third son was called Blockhead-Hans, for being of a quite lesser mind. But he wanted to marry the princess just as much. So, three of them rode for one princess to the King’s Hall.